COMBINATION SONAR/GPS

[Dipsey]

Looking to update from a Humminbird 787 to a larger screen, fantastic unit but hard to see from the back of the boat. I like the capabilities of the new Humminbird and Lowrance units. My boat is a an Islander 191, not sure if I should go with a 8 or 10 inch screen. Also wondering if anyone has any experience with the XM and Sirius weather options. Also wondering if side scan is useful for trolling. Thanks for any feedback.

The salmon fishing is heating up on Lake Champlain! Lots of frostbite fleet activity! Happy fishing/Eric

[Billy V]

I have a Humminbird 1157C on my boat and love it. Matter of fact I love it so much that I'll be adding a second one to replace my 955C GPS. I also have XM weather on my boat and I won't ever fish without it again. It has, on numerous occasions, given us a heads up about severe weather on the way and allowed us to make it back to port prior to high winds, lightning, etc.

I haven't used the side-scanning capabilities but most of the guys I talk to prefer traditional downward looking sonar for our trolling applications.

[Dipsey]

Billy V,

Thanks for the quick response and insight. Hope you had a good season, heard you moved West.

Thanks again/Eric P.

[fishman08]

We have the hds 10 and love it. Lowrance gets a bad name from their customer service but i'd put their product against anyone elses anyday.

[Silver Fox]

We've had nothing but problems w/ our lowrance units. We had to buy a new one after a year and a half w/ what little credit they gave us towards it. Now this one is f@#$%%d up sometimes. Customer service sucks and they won't repair it because after only a year or 2 they discontinue the model and won't fix it. Gonna try to get by w/ 1 more year then it's a hummingbird. I think the first unit was a 19x and the 2nd is a 27lc. When it works it's great, but on the odd time it doesn't it pisses you off! Wish I could tell you how I really feel. I'm not the only one w/ problems either.

[coup]

Stay away from Lowarance combos. I have just received my sixth unit from them from a unit I purchased 2yrs ago that was never right from the first month and it is finally good sooo far. They did stand behind it but the quality is not there. For $1000 I am very disappointed. Oh, and you get to wait an hour to talk to someone if you don't get cut off. Never again. Just my 2cents.

[K Gonefishin]

I run 2 bigger screen lowrances 1 8 inch (38HD) that has been flawless for over 2 years that I run on top of my dash and I also run a 7 inch in my dash that is dedicated for GPS only. I was going to go 10 inch but it would bang against my windshield while running in rough water so I went with the 8 inch a couple of my friends have the 10 in their bigger boat (24 and 30) and you can see them perfect from anywhere in the back of the boat even all the way in the back while setting riggers. My rig is 21 so I didn't need the 10 anyways 8 is plenty...go big if you can afford it. Great for the troller who's always running rods.

Here are some pics of the units on the boats for size comparison.

A HDS 10 on a 24 Rampage

My Ranger with 2 units 1 8 inch 1 7 inch.

[Edd]

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